


Hanzaki Daimyojin’s Curse

by IDetestTragedy



Series: The Free! Chronicle [7]
Category: Free!
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, Anal Sex, Consensual Sex, Established Relationship, Flashback, Frottage, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Reversible Couple, Shower Sex, Slow Sex, lengthy yaoi smut scenes, mild adventures, sap, supernatural allusions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26485786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IDetestTragedy/pseuds/IDetestTragedy
Summary: After a steamy shower sex, Haru told Rin about his transformation into a marmot in the sixth grade of elementary school, which led to ... more smut?
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka
Series: The Free! Chronicle [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008060
Comments: 11
Kudos: 23





	Hanzaki Daimyojin’s Curse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetHeaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetHeaven/gifts).



> Credit: Immeasurable gratitude to fantaysytrash for beta reading.
> 
> Author’s Note: Rather than keeping you wait for a 100 K + word-fic that’s nowhere near completion, I’ve decided to present this fic to you, SweetHeaven. This one doesn’t involve high school life, but still contains metamorphosis. Once again, so sorry for the long delay.

**Part I: Rin**

Rin's breath caught in his throat as Haru's sinful tongue twirled along the shell of his ear, giving him just a taste of pleasure. The muscles of his stomach tightening, he couldn't help but tremble. It was overwhelming—the sensation of Haru's girth splitting him open, the fullness of it, and heat scorching him from the inside out. A torrent of sensation bloomed all over Rin's skin from even the merest breath puffed against his nape.

Haru had been pinning him from behind, his shoulders tilted forward to frame Rin against the shape of his body. His abdominal muscles pressed against the small of Rin's back, while his hand danced down Rin's spine, fingers teasing along each vertebra, and his pulsing erection was angled toward the curve of Rin's ass.

With the side of his face pressed into the wall and his nipples perked against the wet tiles, Rin knew he wouldn't last very long. He _couldn't_. Not when tantalizing lips trailed along the broad of his back, nipping at the skin they found there. And certainly not when lubricated fingers that had been massaging the bundle of nerves in his rear now decided to crook themselves and tease his prostate.

Over the last minute or so, Haru's other hand had found Rin's cock, caressed his balls, and stroked slowly up his dripping length. Within seconds of his partner palming at his crotch, Rin was already a shuddering mess. His vision grew hazy, and he knew perfectly well that the fog from the warm shower wasn't entirely to blame for it. His breathing turned erratic and he couldn't hear anything but the cacophony of their heartbeats. To think that he'd come down from high mere minutes prior, when he'd released his seed inside Haru as they swam in a sea of bed sheets, was almost enough to send him over the edge once more.

Haru's diabolically talented lips moved closer to his shoulder and clamped with the pressure just enough to leave a mark. A noise—akin to a groan—slipped from Rin, but he managed to shut his mouth halfway, hindering the sound's more embarrassing brethren from escaping.

To his credit, Rin managed not to moan aloud when Haru's thighs ground his own and Haru's breath fanned against his nape in a wave of pleasure that sent shivers down his spine. However, the tremor of his body, accompanied by the high-pitched yelp that tore his mouth open the next minute was a different story.

Rin had indeed briefly felt the blunt head of Haru's erection nudge against his opening before his partner slid into him. Even so, he hadn't anticipated Haru to push himself fully inside with a single thrust, since that man had been tortuously slow while angling their bodies into alignment and dragging his shaft along the height of Rin's rear crevice. The breach—an acute pain cleaving its way through the sea of frantic pleasure—made him taut with the need for more.

Almost like a peace offering, dextrous fingers trailed down Rin's arm until they found a hand and interlaced themselves there. Rin sensed every shiver, guilt, and concern that shuddered through Haru's skin.

"Haru, I'm fine. Just didn't expect you'd slip it all in one go." Rin spread his legs wider, trying to relax to allow more room for Haru's girth in him.

Rin wasn't surprised in the least at the absence of verbal response; the years he had shared with his beloved had taught Rin that Haru was not a man of many words, but the gestures and touches he reserved just for Rin were more than enough to make his feelings known. And sure enough, before long Rin felt a tender apologetic kiss at his shoulder before Haru began to move again.

"Fuck!" Rin swore at the tiled wall, his throat straining on the words, desperate for more of that pulsing heat that speared him wide open. The ring of muscles of his entrance stretched and, at the same time, clenched hard around Haru's girth, while his body tensed up in shuddering waves of debauched need. With each new thrust, he felt Haru's erection stretching him more and more. Spikes of pain and pleasure battled against soothing licks and soft touches. Even if Haru hadn't budged, Rin's hips would have bucked on their own, fucking himself on his partner's erect flesh.

A part of Haru was encased inside him. The love of his life was united in flesh with him. The notion tingled under his skin, spurring his heart to hammer in his chest as clamorously as if it were trying to wrench itself free by breaking through his ribcage.

When Haru rocked forward into him in a steadier rhythm, Rin's head snapped back, his neck curving into a column of tension as groans erupted hot and trembling from his throat. Within him, every vein roiled with flaming desire and every nerve thrummed with heightening pleasure. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He was just moving—desperate to meet each of Haru's maddening thrusts. Haru bit Rin's neck while ramming every inch of his addictive shaft each time their hips collided, filling Rin to the brim as though this had been the entire purpose of their existence.

"Harder— _ah_!" Rin's strained demand was punctuated with a gasp that made it past his gritted teeth.

"Can your body keep up with your demand?" Haru groaned as he drove home, slamming his pulsing sex into the slick heat of Rin's body with enough strength to coax more moans from the redhead's throat.

Under any other circumstances, Rin would banter back. As it was, however, he could only arch his back as the tip of Haru's hardened member brushed against his prostate and sent blinding sparks of pleasure along his spine. Desire gathered in the pit of his stomach. His own dripping erection bounced from the mere force of his partner's thrusts.

Haru didn't stop there. He leaned forward, dragging his tongue across Rin's nape. Then, true to his words, he sped up his thrusts, his previously slow pace growing in intensity and reaching a spot that shattered Rin's voice in a debauched moan. His movements served only to make Rin more aware of the way Haru's girth was stretching him open, how deliciously depraved the state he was in, and how perfect Haru felt inside him.

It was too bad that from this position, Rin couldn't revel in the sight of how the last dreg of Haru's usual apathy crumbled into sultriness and how Haru's chiseled muscles flexed as he pounded into him. However, the regret didn't linger, for bliss was soon canceling Rin's thoughts. It overrode his systems with a force so overpowering that he didn't even realize he was crying until he felt the pad of Haru's thumb wiping the streak of tears on his cheek.

_Why is it that whenever I'm with him, I'm struck with an overwhelming desire to hold him tight and never let go?_

Back in his teenage years, Rin had wrongly assumed that being taken by another male would shatter his pride. As it turned out, a sense of proud accomplishment enveloped him whether Haru groaned in pleasure with his cock inside Rin or Haru gasped when Rin fucked him senseless.

Now, like the push and pull of the ocean waves, Haru rolled his hips against Rin's in a constant rhythm, and Rin couldn't deny how he relished the feeling of being so full and thoroughly claimed. The squelches of their bodily fluids and lubricant fused with the lisping of the shower water and the stutters of their own tremulous breathing, amalgamating into an erotic symphony.

"Haruuuu!" Rin cried, his voice cracking as euphoria clouded every logical thought. Haru pounded so hard that Rin had to stand up on his toes just to leverage himself against the slamming of his partner's hips. Climax consumed him whole, jolts of intense pleasure washing over his body.

Yanking Rin's hips back to his own, Haru followed him soon afterward with just a few more intense snaps of his hips that rendered Rin trembling as his ass wrung the orgasm out of his partner. Draping his exhausted body over Rin, Haru kept ahold of his lover's waist even though his spent cock had slipped away from Rin's ass. They were both drenched with shower water spray, yet sticky with sweat and semen.

"Haru, let go," Rin urged once he regained breath.

The grip on his waist tightened instead. In addition, Haru's nose and lips nuzzled along the slope of his shoulder as if non-verbally telling Rin, _"I'm insanely in love with you."_

Haru never forbade Rin to leave—be it as close as the shop next door or as far as across the ocean; never asked to be prioritized over Rin's fans and friends (even though no matter with whom he spent his time, his mind would always remain with one Nanase Haruka regardless); never even initiate skin contact in public, except for that one time when their youngest relay teammate ogled over Rin in the locker room, and Haru just _had_ to show him who Rin belonged to by kissing him square in the mouth in front of the whole bunch of Olympic swimmers. However, when the two of them were alone in the sanctuary of their apartment, Haru would cling to him, monopolizing Rin for his own questing eyes and adventurous mouth and roaming fingers. His and his only. The problem was: Rin didn't dislike any of it.

Rin granted himself a few more seconds to savor Haru's hug before mumbling, "I want to kiss you."

Only then did the arms encircling Rin's waist relent, allowing him to turn his body toward his lover.

Faces inches away from each other's, Rin met cerulean eyes that gives the impression that he was staring into the glittering sea. And yet, the same mesmerizing blue held him a worshipful gaze, glazing over him as if Rin mattered more than an entire oceanic treasures combined. Haru's eyes—which reserved the same apathy whenever he spared a glance for mundane objects other than mackerels, large bodies of water, and black jammers with purple streaks—seemed captivated by him. It felt like something forbidden, borderline sinful, and enough to make Rin's stomach clench about seeing his ice prince melting for him. Really, could he ever get tired of Haru for as long as he lived? He drank in the breath-taking features he had fallen and continued to fall in love with … if anything, he kept falling harder and sinking deeper for his rival and lover.

 _My Shining, you_ _'ve_ _ma_ _d_ _e me whole_.

Haru was otherworldly beautiful with droplets of water scintillating all over his bare skin, and Rin appreciated this most when he gently moved the few strands of Haru's hair out of the way from his lover's forehead. He then proceeded to cradle Haru's face in his hands and pulled him down until the gap between them no longer existed. The little birds outside their window were chirping to greet the merry Sunday morning in stark contrast to the silent lips of Nanase Haruka.

Their mouths met in a passionate exchange, ardent and panting, each eager to lick his way into the other's. When their tongues met, Rin moaned and deepened the kiss. He stroked the inside of Haru's mouth, teased that silken inner lip, flicked the tip of his tongue against the other man's, increasing pressure until his lover whimpered with his fingers curling into Rin's hair. Haru was kissing him back avidly like he wouldn't be able to survive a single second more if he were to be denied of Rin's lips.

They would have completely lost themselves in what felt like sheer perfection if Rin's stomach hadn't chosen that exact moment to rumble with an echoing trail throughout the bathroom.

"Breakfast!" Haru wheezed. He planted a quick peck on Rin's lips before dashing out toward the kitchen with no more than a towel wrapped around his waist.

Rin allowed himself a short chuckle as he continued to cleanse himself. Rather than sweet nothings, it was small things like this that expressed Haru's affection for him. Haru would normally prioritize his long soak in the bathtub each morning, but not when Rin's insides were too sore from their rounds of Venus' sport. He also would otherwise opt for a cold shower over a warm one whenever Rin didn't join him, but never subjected the other to do the same.

We had he done to deserve Haru in his life?

###

When the bathrobe-vested Rin emerged from the bathroom, the mouth-watering aroma of fried eggs teased his nostrils before he could pinpoint the source. His eyes located Haru, standing by the stove with a spatula in hand, waiting for the right moment to flip the bacon and sausage pieces in the frying pan.

The cook was clad only in his usual blue apron over the white towel, the dimples above his butts peeking out. At times like this, Rin missed Haru's swim jammers because they accentuated the glorious curve of his ass cheeks. Nevertheless, the towel was not uninviting in its own right; the fabric appeared like it could slip off at any given moment and the areas it didn't cover showed how Haru's lower thighs and calves were covered in Rin's kiss marks. Plus, the bare skin on the broad of Haru's back looked _so_ kissable.

At least, he thought as he approached his partner, he had an over-the-sink-sex to look forward to when they'd wash their dishes later. Rin visualized Haru standing on tiptoes, his trembling fingers curled around the rim of the plate he was washing as Rin claimed him from behind—not a bad payback from this morning's shower sex. Their hellish torture of abstaining from sex had ended two weeks before, when Haru, despite his failure in defending his Olympic gold medal for the 100-meter freestyle, had managed to secure one for the 200-meter, while Rin snatched the one for the butterfly stroke.

Back then, in the celebratory banquet that followed, it had taken a strenuous amount of willpower for Rin not to leave the party full of athletes and coaches as soon as he arrived. Even in the absence of physical touch, Rin felt naked underneath his suit. Haru's intense gaze did that to him, filling him with a yearning to be fucked senseless right there and then. Or to fuck—he could live with either option.

"If you have time to spare, why don't you start setting the plates and cutlery?" At the sound of Haru's words, Rin realized he had been ogling over the ravishing creature in the kitchen a tad too long.

Rin deliberately chose the route closest to Haru as he sauntered toward the kitchen cupboard. He murmured against the side of Haru's neck, "Smells good."

Rin kept a close distance from the object of his affection, but resisted the temptation to skate his fingertips along Haru's spine and glide his tongue across the bare skin of his toned back; a vexed Haru had denied him red meat for a week the last time Rin had _distracted_ him from cooking, and he wasn't eager for the episode's encore.

"Shoo." The timbre of Haru's voice sounded suspiciously too affectionate to be classified as "annoyed" even though he answered in his usual flat tone, his face a perfect mimicry of a still statue, save for his eyes that were fixed unblinkingly on the cooking ingredients.

"I'll prepare the toasts and coffee," Rin offered.

They ate in peace … unless if Rin counted the one time Haru stared weirdly at him when some of the egg yolk streaked from the corner of his mouth and dribbled down his chin. Okay, maybe not so much _weirdly_ , as perhaps, well, _horny_. Like Haru was about to spring from his chair just to lick the egg off Rin's face and then continued licking imaginary egg stains before proceeding downward at Rin's chin, throat, shoulder blades, nipple, diaphragm, navel…

"You okay, Rin?" the real Haru asked from the opposite side of their dining table instead.

 _Crap!_ "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Haru shrugged. "Well, as long as you're okay."

"Y'know, sometimes the way you look at me reminds me on the marmot I once had as a pet back in the sixth-grade."

Rin was prepared for Haru's offended tone; instead, Haru calmly asked, "How so?" before biting into his buttered toast.

"Well, for a start, you both have blue eyes … although I guess his behavior resembles yours more than his looks ever could."

Haru leveled him with a deadpan stare.

"No, I don't mean that you eat mostly plants and dig holes in the ground or that he loves mackerel and swimming. It's … well, both of you have this tendency of looking sideways or aggressively attacking your food or drink when you're embarrassed, for instance."

"I do _not_."

"You do."

"No, I don't."

"Do."

"Don't."

"Anyway, that's not all. Remember how you lost on purpose when we formed teams for a water gun fight at the Samezuka festival in our final year of high school, just so that you could enjoy the splash of water on your face?"

Haru nodded.

"That marmot had an aberrant love for water. Once, he even scurried toward the line of fire until he became drenched from my water gun attack. I'm not making this up!" The legs of Rin's chair scraped against the floor with a screech on the occupier's enthusiastic account.

"I know."

The lack of skepticism in Haru's gaze was disconcerting enough to raise make Rin's eyebrows rise in suspicion.

"I know."

Rin's brow arched in suspicion."How can you possibly know that?"

"Hanzaki Daimyojin," Haru simply stated.

Rin squinted his eyes. "The … uh, gigantic lizard god?"

"Giant salamander and master of water," Haru corrected him.

"Whatever. What does that reptilian deity have anything to do with the freaking marmot?"

**Part II: Haru**

The fear that Rin might doubt his sanity after hearing his account had kept Haru from revealing the childhood memory which had haunted him every once in a while. Even now, it was with great trepidation that Haru disclosed what had transpired.

###

On the fourth month after Rin had transferred from Sano Elementary School to Iwatobi, on the final three days of the Golden Week, the Nanase family visited a waterfall. The sunlight shone upon the glittering water, beckoning the twelve-year-old Haru to come; no stream in Iwatobi could look so alluringly crystal clear.

Haru's fingers had turned wrinkly like dried plums from for hours in the water; still, his craving remained unquenched. He peeked behind the cascading rush of the fall and discovered a cave. Although somber from the limited amount of sunlight, the place didn't seem too spacious and he figured he probably wouldn't get lost if he were to go exploring. Besides, his parents were having a picnic by the waterfall, so they wouldn't miss his brief absence.

He didn't even need two minutes to reach the end of the small cave, and he let out a disappointed sigh. Just as he turned around, ready to go back, his wet feet lost their balance against the slippery ground. His hand grabbed the cave wall, finding purchase on a big chunk of rock; unfortunately, this did nothing to prevent his fall. The rock tumbled with him, crashing against the ground with a bang that echoed throughout the chamber of the cave.

Standing up, Haru rubbed his sore rump. To his pleasant surprise, the gap—where the fallen rock had been—led to a cavernous space inside. A rheumy odor, rather like the dankness of a humid cellar, invaded his nostrils. The cave portion where he was currently standing served as no more than an antechamber to the newly revealed place. It felt as though he stumbled upon a realm unknown to humankind. A nameless air of eeriness hung around the cavern's jagged walls, and it reminded him of haunted houses entered solely in quest of shudders.

However, the spooky atmosphere vanished once his gaze zeroed on the epicenter of the cavern. A spectacle of ultimate marvel burst out in front of him: beneath the stalactites, stretched a turquoise lake. Never in his life had Haru encountered a more dazzling body of water, where beauty leagued itself with clarity. And the best part yet: he wouldn't even need to share it with other tourists.

Unable to resist the temptation of how all that wonderful water was reserved to him and him only, he moved a couple more rocks to gain himself an entry through the makeshift doorway. As he stepped inside, the mystery as to why the lake looked so paradisaically turquoise was solved: the holes on the cave ceiling allowed the penetrating sun rays to bathe the lake in soft lights.

Haru wasted no time to scuttle through the shadowy passage of stones and plunge himself into the lake. As always, the wetness welcomed him. The water splashes became the most enchanting music on Earth, while its coolness washed all his worries away.

After swimming freestyle to and fro in full speed, Haru relaxed while keeping himself afloat on his back. He was leisurely scrutinizing the different shapes of the stalactites when it occurred to him that the moss and lichen did _not c_ over the rocky roof randomly. Instead, as if filling the spaces left out by some sort of alphabet, they grew in patches so that they bore an uncanny resemblance to stencils.

 _Weird!_ Haru thought as he scrutinized the spots where the moss and lichen didn't sprout. _Still, those shapes don't resemble hiragana, katakana, or kanji. Could they be the Ainu alphabet? What do the words say?_

"Begone, human child! This lake is sacred to my lord, Hanzaki Daimyojin-sama," came the soul-petrifying voice of an agency somewhere from behind. It sounded like the ordinary _ribbit_ croaks in Haru's ears, but somehow translated themselves into words in his mind.

The boy looked around, only to find a tiny tadpole swimming toward him.

 _Can tadpoles even croak?_ Thinking that he must be imagining the whole thing, Haru ignored the warning.

The pale green tadpole added, "If you recklessly insist on remaining here, you will pay the next time your body is submerged in water."

#####

That next time turned out to be Haru's bathtub time the following night, shortly after the Nanases returned home from their family trip. Haru, who tended to soak for the longest of time, took his bath after his parents were done with theirs.

He didn't remember diving in the bathtub. In fact, the water touched no part of him any higher than his neck, when he felt his lungs constrict, making him choke. He had never experienced drowning before—not even when he had first learned to swim all those years ago—but now, bile lodged in the back of his throat and he was slipping, sinking, into the bottomless abyss of fear. Frantically, he urged his limbs to propel him up and keep him afloat. Alas, the more he moved, the more water he gulped. More peculiar still, the tub seemed to bloat multiple times bigger than its original size.

_Why are my arms and legs harder to control than usual?_

It wasn't until after several minutes of struggle that Haru managed to grip the edge of the bathtub. Then, to his horror, he realized it wasn't his fingers that clung to the tub, but the concave claws of a rodent's forepaws. The shock undid his unsteady grip slipped from the wet acrylic surface, and once again, his body was tossed about at the mercy of the tub water.

Even the school marathon hadn't left Haru so depleted of energy as when he reached the tub edge for the second time. He climbed to the white rim and inspected the pond-sized bath.

The reflection of the drenched body of a bulky rodent with short legs and equally short ears was looking back at him. He was a marmot.

For the first time in his life, Haru was awashed with the relief for leaving the water he usually loved to be in. He shook the water droplets off his fur. His incisors were chattering, his whole being was trembling, his normal life had been forfeited. Or was all time he spent with the Nanase family and his friends at school a mere dream? A long, vivid, and most realistic series of events … that turned out to be a marmot's dream?

 _No!_ He refused to believe it. A marmot should belong in the wilderness. He had no reason to plunge himself into an early death by drowning in humans' bathtub. His former life was _not_ a dream, even though his new size made the bathroom look as big as a classroom.

_But how could I transform into a marmot? How can I transform back into a human? And why did the transformation happen in the first place?_

Then the tadpole's warning echoed in Haru's head, _"If you recklessly insist on remaining here, you will pay the next time your body is submerged in water."_

Haru's instinct told him to go back to the sacred lake and prayed for Hanzaki Daimyojin's forgiveness. He considered grabbing his wallet to pay for the upcoming transportation tickets, but decided against it. Which driver would allow a lone marmot aboard a public transport? He'd have hitch-hike on the bus' rooftop under the cover of the night.

Haru left his parents a note on his desk: _I'm sleeping at a friend's house. Will be back at the end of the Golden Week._ Even the writing process turned out to be a chore. With his rodent body, holding a pencil proved to be a no less demanding task than holding a broomstick. His usually decent handwriting turned out squigglier than chicken scratch.

With a combination of several failed jumps, determination, and one stroke of luck in the end, Haru the marmot finally managed to unlatch his window and leap outside. Instead of descending the long stone steps down the hill, he scuttled on all four amid the shrubberies to gain some coverage from the foliage. This new size made him feel too vulnerable. The queerly somber grass, nightmarishly misshapen weeds, and sinister vegetation turned into a maze that obstructed his way. The towering garden lamps peered down at him as if cursing him for passing by. The crisp night air pricked the marmot's back, blanketing him with morbid terror.

If only his human form was restorable by giving up mackerels, he'd abstain from his favorite fish for a year.

Wait, that was too long. A month.

Or perhaps a week.

A spider scurried on Haru's way, and the first thing that came to his mind was it smelled like supper. _No!_ He chided himself. He wouldn't devour a raw, living, crawling animal. His best hope would be berries or garden vegetables … which might just as well be his rotten luck, since his neighbors grew only flowers and herbs.

Although Haru had calculated that crossing the roads en route to the bus stop without being caught by the officers of stray animal control would prove to be a challenge, his inability to read signposts across the road turned out to be a bigger issue. _Are marmots supposed to be this sort-sighted?_

A little girl caught a glimpse of the marmot as he climbed onto the bus' rooftop and she called her mother while pointing at him. Haru ducked, lying as flat as possible in the middle of the rooftop to disallow visibility from the ground level.

The moment the bus glided, though, a new challenge presented itself. With nothing to hold onto, Haru felt himself slipping away each time the bus turned, passed the bumps on the road, or stopped at the traffic lights. It had taken his dad over three hours to drive the family car to the waterfall, but there was no way his exhausted claws could endure a journey that long.

The bus had passed the children playground he and Makoto frequently visited, a shopping district, a tennis court, and was now reaching an unfamiliar residential area. Before Haru found a solution for his predicament, a screech pierced the night sky. Looking up, he spotted a dot moving in circles, growing larger and larger as it flew closer to the bus. A bird of prey!

Haru's stomach lurched. He'd had his share of morbidity while avoiding humans earlier, but at least they wouldn't eat him. This predator would likely swoop upon him and clutched him into the skies despite his futile struggles. Then, when the night wind evaporated all remaining hope for salvation, the bird's sharp talons would shred him from limb to limb and bathe his gray fur in the marmot's crimson blood.

The avian shrill sound's volume went up. Disregarding the possible injuries caused by improper landing, Haru jumped into the nearest bushes on the roadside. The bird descended. From this distance, even the marmot's short-sighted eyes didn't fail to recognize it to be a falcon. The rodent's entire body trembled with fear; the leaves hid his figure, but didn't cover his scent.

The falcon swooped lower. Haru waited with baited breath, his heart thumping so wild that it felt as though it was about to leap out of his maw. Would he die tonight, before even discovering his dream for the future? He hadn't even said goodbye to his grandma, parents, and best friend.

Haru gazed at the soft soil. Hiding in a deep furrow underground seemed to be a safer option. He began to dig with his front paws and push the loose soil away with his back paws. He had just barely reached two feet deep when a new scent invaded his muzzle. He turned sideways and saw a kitten chasing a rolling ball without a care in the world.

 _Let that kitten be_ , a voice resounded inside Haru's head. _You'll be safe as long as that falcon finds another prey._

But would Haru as an elementary school boy not regret it if he survived at the cost of a kindergartener's oblivious sacrifice?

Emerging from the ground, Haru dashed toward the black-and-white kitten. Then three things happened at once: the falcon greeted him with open claws; a human boy calling "Steve, wait for me!" appeared from the street corner; and the kitten, now aware of the danger, abandoned the rubber ball. With all his strength, Haru pushed the kitten into the unfinished hole. Then all he felt was pain—a raw, inexorably excruciating agony where the falcon's talon had wounded his back. A part of him urged his marmot body to dive to the side, into the hold he had dug, but the rest of him forbade the idea that would expose the kitten to the falcon's further pursue.

Haru knew there was no hope for victory, not when he had never brawled with other human boys before and certainly not when the falcon's claws were thrice the size of his marmot's own. As powerless as a bicycle before a bulldozer, he gritted his incisors, claws out. He had to stand his ground and fight. Or die trying.

The falcon swooped overhead, ready to squeeze him in a deadly grip, and then the boy darted at the predator with flailing arms. "Shoo! Shoo!"

 _Matsuoka?_ A recognition pervaded Haru. No wonder the boy's voice had a familiar ring in it. _So, the kitten is his pet._

The falcon sized up the boy. Instead of flying away, the bird let out an indignant screech and targeted a renewed attack on Rin.

Having seized his cat's neglected chew toy, Rin hurled the rubber ball at the falcon. Only after it hit the bird's pectoral did another indignant screech announce the predator's departure into the night sky.

Haru returned the kitten to the ground surface. Since the wounds on his back made it impossible for him to continue any more bus journey, he decided to stay the night in the burrow. He collapsed midway, his strength sapping away. He couldn't even escape when he felt Rin's warm hands picking him up.

Tucked against Rin's chest together with the kitten, Haru had only a blurry memory of how he reached the Matsuoka family house. It retained some of the traditional elements, like the raised platform on the entryway and the sliding doors, but was furnished with western-style furniture and flooring.

"Rin, what happened? You're bleeding!" A woman's anxious voice greeted Rin as soon as the boy entered the house carrying the two animals. Her facial features bore some resemblance to Rin's although her red hair was of a different shade.

"I'm fine, mom. The blood on my shirt isn't mine. It belongs to this marmot. He saved Steve from a falcon."

"A rodent saving a cat from a bird of prey? How peculiar!" Mrs. Matsuoka rejoined.

Before Rin could comment, a high-pitched scream came from his younger sister, "A falcon?! Is Steve hurt?"

Haru had sometimes seen the little girl walking together with Rin on their way home. Now, looking at her distraught expression, he became convinced he had taken the right decision to protect the kitten.

"He's perfectly okay, Gou. A bit dirty, but—"

"What do you mean a bit? Steve's practically rolling in the mud! Look at that fur!" Their mother rebuked, hands on the hips.

Rin pleaded, "I'll give him a bath later. For now, can I disinfect this marmot's wounds first? He was weakened so badly that he couldn't even struggle when I picked him up."

Mrs. Matsuoka pursed her lips. "Which means Steve will leave dirty paw prints in the house in the meantime."

"I'll clean Steve," Gou volunteered. She didn't even wait for Rin's or their mother's response before scooping the dirty kitten in her palms and heading to the bathroom.

If Haru had enough energy, he would have trashed around when Rin dabbed some antiseptics onto his wounds. As it was, he could only barely squirm. With far more care than Haru thought possible for such a boisterous boy, Rin tended to him, using a gentleness in his touch that Haru would never have associated with him. He laid the marmot on a bath towel in spite of his mother's disapproving glare from the doorway.

"We'll take the marmot to a vet tomorrow morning," Mrs. Matsuoka declared. "But he'll have to go as soon as his wounds are healed."

"But mom, he's Steve's hero," Rin began.

"Who will take care of him after you're gone?"

That put a stop to Rin's argument. Haru couldn't have agreed more with Mrs. Matsuoka for refusing to feed and clean a marmot every day after her son left for school, especially considering she had a cat to fuss about.

 _I'll leave tomorrow_ , Haru promised Rin even though the human boy couldn't possibly comprehend him. The sound of "vet" presaged an impending doom. Considering such a small injection needle brought discomfort to humans, Haru couldn't even begin to imagine how the pain would multiply in the body of a rodent like his.

The next morning, Rin brought Haru a cardboard box and gently laid him there, along with a carrot and a cabbage. Haru cursed; he had missed his chance to sneak out of the window and now he was left with no choice but to resign his fate to the vet.

According to the vet's verdict, Haru's shallow wounds didn't put him anywhere near mortal danger. Alas, this didn't absolve him from The Needle.

#####

"I still haven't thanked you for saving Steve." Rin placed a bunch of vegetables in Haru's cardboard box when they returned from the vet. "Hmm, it feels weird to keep calling you 'marmot' without a name."

 _Don't bother. I'll leave when you_ _'re_ _fast asleep tonight_ , Haru replied in his mind.

"You have blue eyes," Rin murmured in amazement. "Just like him…" Rin sighed dreamily.

 _Him?_ Haru stared uncomprehendingly at Rin.

Rin scratched his nose. "In my class and swim club, there's this boy with a cool attitude. His eyes are as clear as water and when he swims…" Rin's legs swung back and forth underneath the desk—Haru couldn't see them, but he could tell from the occasional thuds of Rin's slippers against the sides of the desk. "Not only he's crazy fast, but his form is also otherworldly beautiful."

As Haru's mind started to form an idea as whom Rin was referring to, his heart rate jackhammered. He developed an urgent interest for the vegetables in front of him. He was unfamiliar with more than half of his food, but heck, those greens looked way tastier to him as a marmot than as a human.

Face cradled between his hands, Rin watched the marmot gnaw the veggies. "I nagged mom to transfer me to Iwatobi Elementary School and Swim Club because they're the places where dad used to belong, but more than that, I found the one I want to swim the medley relay with since I met him in last year's regional tournament. Luckily, grandma's house isn't too far from that school, so mom gave me a green light. So, yeah, I'm only here for the Golden Week."

 _Wait, what?_ _!_ Haru nearly choked on his food.

"Nanase's so awesome! I've always wanted to swim like him," Rin continued, his eyes beaming. "I want to swim with him."

Then Rin sighed. "That said, I guess I'm no more than a transfer student who wouldn't shut up about the medley relay in Nanase's eyes. You see, he always gives me a cold shoulder. He even looks pissed off whenever I talk to him, even though he doesn't seem miffed when Tachibana or Hazuki does the same. Unfair, isn't it?"

_Well, maybe if you didn't nag me about the relay the moment you opened your mouth…_

"Hey, little marmot, can I call you 'Haru' since we meet in mid-spring?" Rin shook his head. "Nah. That'd be a lie. Haru is Nanase's given name, and it's shortened from Haruka, which has nothing to do with the season." Rin let out a nervous laugh. "It's cheating. I know, right? But what can I say? I don't have the guts to call him Haru yet."

Folding his arms on the desk, Rin leaned his chin against them. "Nanase is exactly as tall as me, at 145 cm. We have similar build, too. It's amazing how he's so much better than me at swimming. He swims simply because he loves water. He doesn't care about winning or improving his time despite his incredible talent. But I want to be special to him. I want to show him something he hasn't seen before so that he'll acknowledge me as his equal."

_Enough talk about me!_

"He's cool-headed, so quiet that he seems aloof at times, and drop-dead gorgeo—" Rin cleared his throat, a flush of pink dusting his cheeks. "Ahem, the last part is irrelevant."

Haru suppressed the urge to curve into a ball.

"He's also amazing at drawing," Rin continued. "Well, to balance it up, he sucks at running, though. Can you believe it? He's so damn fast in the water, but unbelievably slow on land!" Rin laughed aloud.

Had Rin always been _that_ observant of him at school?

For once, Haru was glad he was in this animal form. He wouldn't know what to tell Rin back if that boy spoke to him as a human. With each syllable Rin articulated, the more he disturbingly reminded Haru of a scene from a TV drama, in which a lovesick youth was pining over the most beautiful girl in the village. But that couldn't be right; _both_ of them were boys.

"Oh, you've finished brunch," Rin remarked as Haru gulped down the last bit of his asparagus. "C'mon, I'll give you a tour around the house, Haru."

The first place Rin showed Haru was the room next door. He knocked. "Gou, can I come in?"

"Yeah," came a reply from the other side of the door, before Rin pushed it open.

The room had a similar layout to Rin's, but with frillier bedsheets and more of plump pillows. Dolls and mini kitchen sets replaced car toys and legos. Instead of swimming trophies and medals like Rin's, the room was decorated with body builders' posters.

"Haru, say hi to my sister, Gou."

The little girl smiled at the marmot and scooted closer with a full intention to pat his head. Haru squirmed at once. When Gou showed a careful attempt to avoid his bandaged back, Haru steeled himself to stop moving, even though his entire body remained as stiff as a board.

"Does he hate being touched?" Gou asked Rin.

Rin shrugged. "Dunno, he didn't resist when I scooped him in my arms. He could be just worried if you'd accidentally touch his wound."

A sudden realization hit Haru then. He had been too weak to offer resistance the previous night and earlier that morning, but then he'd become too accustomed to Rin's touch that it felt natural whenever that boy picked him up now. The sooner he left the Matsuoka household, he told himself, the better it would be.

"But isn't it great that he likes you, onii-chan? Unlike Steve." Gou commented.

"It's not just Steve. All cats seem to be wary of me. On the way home the other day, the stray cats practically flocked to Tachibana like he's some kitty-magnet. They still let Nanase pet them, but fled as soon as I stepped forward."

"Oh, isn't Nanase the name of the freestyle swimmer you've always wanted to swim with? You're friends with him already?"

_How many people have he told that he wanted to swim with me?_

Rin's face flushed. "Anyway, it's such a nice weather today. Let's play hide-and-seek outside!"

"We played that yesterday. Let's play the beauty pageant contest today!"

"No way! I'm a guy!"

"But you look pretty when I put some ribbons on you."

"That was ages ago! Anyway, I'm a big boy now. Let's play gang war, shall we? Give me a minute to grab my water guns." Without waiting for Gou's reply, Rin disappeared through the doorway.

Gou huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Lately you've always make me play boyish games, but never agree to play girlish games with me!"

It only took Rin half a minute to return with two plastic guns. Baring his razor-sharp teeth in a wide grin, he told Gou, "Take your pick."

 _So, he puts his sibling before himself. Just like Makoto. Is this the trait of a firstborn child?_ Haru wondered as Rin placed him on his shoulder and proceeded to descend the stairs with Gou in tow.

"You're still injured, so watch from here. I bet you'd rather not be cooped up in my room, would you?" Rin told the marmot as he gingerly laid Haru on the wooden planks of the veranda.

They soon took their positions, Rin hiding behind a tree trunk, while Gou was among the bushes.

"I know you're in there." Rin cocked his water gun and growled, his voice traveling across the flowerbeds in the backyard. "You will pay for snuffing my sister."

Appearing from behind the bushes, Gou suppressed her grin and shot her water gun as she retorted, "That greenhorn must have been honored to have met her end in the hands of Great Zur."

Rin dodged it sideways. An animalistic snarl clawed its way up his throat. A single decisive splash from his water gun punctuated Gou's words like an exclamation point.

"Step out from behind the bushes and let me end your misery," he demanded, but she ducked back behind her cover.

Two shots followed. Water jetted from each gun's end, but before it could drench either child, Haru sprang to intercept. Both spurts landed on his marmot fur instead.

"Seriously!" Rin exclaimed, while Gou lowered her gun to take a closer look.

With Haru's current size, the water pressure took more toll than on his human body; still, it was nothing he couldn't handle. He eyed Rin's water gun, longing for more wetness on his skin.

Rin looked at the marmot, then to his gun, and back to Haru again. "You love water that much, huh? How unusual for a rodent."

"Rin, Gou, lunch's ready!" Mrs. Matsuoka's voice called them from one of the windows.

Before going inside the house, Rin assured Haru, "We'll continue the tour after lunch."

As promised, Rin took Haru to see the bathroom, the closets, and the living room just half an hour later. "That's my mom, Matsuoka Miyako," he pointed at the kitchen while standing in the doorway. Mrs. Matsuoka stood with her back on them, seemingly preparing some marinade for dinner.

Then Rin showed Haru his family altar where the black-framed photograph of a bespectacled brown-haired man with jagged teeth but a benevolent smile was propped up. "Meet my dad, Matsuoka Toraichi. He was a fisherman who had died in a storm last summer before he could realize his dream. That's why I'm going to win the Olympics and make that dream come true."

Rin went quiet for some time after that. In the meantime, Haru heard Gou's voice, "Mom, I'll go over Yuka-chan's place."

"Right now? Doesn't it look like it's going to rain?"

"It's okay, we'll just be doing our Golden Week homework in her room and I'll bring an umbrella in case it rains on the way."

Rin took Haru upstairs. Back in his room, he packed a towel, a set of clothes, a wallet, and his swim trunks into a bag before leaving for ITSC. Haru wished he could join, but in this marmot form, he'd inarguably drown. The water gun session earlier would have to suffice. As soon as Rin closed his bedroom door shut, Haru decided to take a nap. He'd need all the strength he could gather for that night's journey.

#####

Haru woke up to the crack of a thunder. The clock hanging on the wall next to Rin's bed told him that he'd been sleeping for almost an hour. The sound of raindrops hitting the glass window seized his attention next. The clouds had already looked quite dark even before Rin had left, but he paid it no mind since he'd be swimming in an indoor pool. Now the sky couldn't be interpreted as anything less than stormy. Would Rin be alright on his way home? Haru recalled Rin hadn't brought any umbrella. And even if he had, it would likely be either broken or blown away by the gale.

Then, biological needs diverted Haru's attention. Rin had been considerate enough to pile leaves over twigs at one corner of his cardboard box for the marmot's toilet use, but still, Haru's human instinct refused to live within the same enclosure as his dump. He had to go outside and dig a small burrow and then, perhaps, use leaves as toilet paper substitute. He precisely did so in the Matsuoka backyard.

Just as he was about to climb up the drainage pipe back to Rin's window, he noticed the glass sliding door that separated the yard from the house. Through it, Haru could see Mrs. Matsuoka sitting next to two laundry baskets in front of her husband's altar. She was dabbing tears that streaked from the corners of her eyes, but with each teardrop she wiped away, more cascaded down her cheeks. Eventually, she gave up draining those tears and instead sobbed without restraint, her husband's portrait tucked against her bosom.

This, Haru realized, was not something Mrs. Matsuoka could do in the presence of her children. She had to be strong for the two fatherless kids, assuring them that everything would be all right as long as she remained with them. Haru guessed that the current weather reminded her of the very storm that had sunk her husband's fishing boat, snatching him forever away from her side.

The marmot climbed his way back as quietly as possible, not wanting to intrude upon her privacy any further.

The storm had finally subsided into gentler rain when a drenched Rin arrived home. As he toweled himself dry, he told Haru, "Nanase didn't come to the practice today." Rin sighed. "To think that I was looking forward to him saying 'I'm home' as usual whenever he arrives at ITSC…"

Haru made a mental note to quit that habit.

Rin babbled on about wanting to see Haru's smile, wanting to know Haru's favorite food, and wondering about Haru's interests in case some of them correlated with his own and they might grow chummier with each other. He also ran over a dozen simulations about outings with Haru. By the time the chatterbox finally dozed off, Haru's brain had taken a full-blown simulative tour to various places, from something as mundane as an aquarium to something as outlandish as a lake on a different planet.

Using his maw, Haru pulled the blanket over the sleeping boy. To his alarm, when his bushy tail brushed Rin's skin, it felt almost as hot as a bowl of soup. He searched for a thermometer, opening Rin's drawers and cabinets one by one, but found none. Then he recalled catching a glimpse of the first aid kit box in the closet during the tour earlier that day. Perhaps the thermometer was stored close by.

Mrs. Matsuoka was ironing the laundry, so Haru managed to retrieve the instrument and sneak behind her back without a hitch. It was a stroke of pure luck that the lid of the thermometer container was openable by pulling the stopper rather than twisting it, since the latter method would be unfeasible to Haru's maw and paws. Haru held one end of the thermometer between his incisors and plug the other end into Rin's mouth. If the situation weren't so grave, this would serve as a Pocky Game look-alike.

 _41.6 °C_ , the measurement read.

As a marmot, Haru couldn't be sure he could tear open the medicine wrapper and hold a glass of water for Rin to swallow. The best way to ensure Rin took the medicine was to get Mrs. Matsuoka to do it.

Rushing downstairs, Haru pulled one of Mrs. Matsuoka's slippers with his maw with measured strength so as not to tear the fabric.

"No! That's not food," she told him off.

But the marmot remained insistent. Again and again he pulled, until Mrs. Matsuoka's expression transformed from vexed to puzzled.

"Could it be that you want me to follow you?"

Haru let go as soon as she said those words. He led the way to Rin's room.

Afterward, Mrs. Matsuoka did what a mother should: the moment she caught sight of her son's reddish complexion, she checked Rin's temperature. She then shook the sleeping boy awake and asked, "Have you taken any medicine? It's crucial that I don't overdose you."

As soon as Rin managed a weak "No," Mrs. Matsuoka ran downstairs to fetch the fever tablet and a glass of water. After Rin swallowed it, she put a compress on his forehead and told him a bedtime story.

"Mom, I'm too old for this," Rin complained, but he listened anyway.

It wasn't until Rin was fast asleep that Mrs. Matsuoka turned to Haru. "My, you're so clever, bringing me up here when Rin is sick! Thank you. It's a good thing you're here," Mrs. Matsuoka murmured. "My son doesn't discuss his problems. He wants to ease my burden, you see. And my daughter takes after him. After Toraichi's death, my children never asked for any new toys. They asked for new clothes only when their old ones couldn't keep up with their growth. They're worried about our financial situation—having to take care of them and being a breadwinner at the same time."

She sniffled. "Ah, but why I'm telling you all this, little marmot? The months I spent in my husband's absence must have turned me into a silly old ninny. Anyway, I'm sorry I can't offer you a home. I didn't even give you the treatment you deserve after saving out cat. If I didn't pretend you were a nuisance in front of him, Rin will definitely want to adopt you even though he'll be leaving soon. While Steve is still a kitten now, he'll grow into a full-sized cat in months—one that's big enough to prey upon rodents. I can't keep him away from you all the time."

Haru recalled how Gou had eyed a dollhouse on a toy store's glass display as the car had passed it earlier that morning, but made no mention to her mom that she wanted it. Then Haru's gaze became unseeing the moment he directed his thoughts inward as he tried to remember how happy Rin had seemed in February as he flaunted his new red coat, twirling himself around before Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa. Up to the day before, Rin had indeed worn a coat with sleeves too short.

Stones of guilt settled in Haru's gut. Compared to the Matsuoka siblings, how selfish had he been to his parents? He'd frown and whine to his mother when meals didn't include mackerel. He'd demand his father to take him to the swimming pool regardless how exhausted Mr. Nanase had been from a business trip. Even the last family trip destination had been selected based on Haru's preference rather than his parents'. As the only child, Haru received ample of affection from his parents; they doted on him, and with no other siblings to compete with, he had taken it for granted all those years.

 _Mom, dad, I'll be a better son_ _to you_ _when I return._

The question was, could he transform back into human?

Lethargy all over him, Haru climbed into his cardboard box, where he crouched at one corner with his ears held back and his tail tucked. He closed his eyes and slept.

#####

Mrs. Matsuoka was no longer in the room when Haru woke up. She had kept the door slightly open, though, and from that gap, Haru could hear her preparing dinner downstairs. Another thing she'd left was a fresh compress on Rin's forehead. Haru crept closer to the side of Rin's neck and felt the his temperature. It was still as hot as before.

Minutes by slow minutes dragged by, and still there was no sign of Rin's fever subsiding. More than that, earlier Rin seemed to struggle with his breathing; now, Haru could hardly the rising and falling of his chest.

 _Oi, Matsuoka._ Haru poked Rin on the arm.

For one unnerving moment, the sleeping boy didn't move.

 _Matsuoka!_ Haru screamed, but all that came out of his marmot's maw was a screech.

He climbed closer to Rin's nostrils. The air movement was barely there.

Consternation built up in Haru's throat and pooled down at the base of his stomach. The cases in which people across the globe died from influenza were not unheard of; what if Rin's life was going to end soon?

Rin had been an exemplary son to his mother. Compared to him, Haru deserved to die more. His parents weren't too old to try for another child. On the other hand, Rin was the living embodiment of his late father's dream.

 _Don't let him die! Take me instead!_ Haru prayed hard. _Please, Lord Hanzaki Daimyojin!_

Although it was against the odds, Haru still hoped his prayer to be answered. Still, he was disappointed when nothing out of the ordinary happened. No thunder striking. No drum roll background music that culminated with a _ta-da_! Nothing.

He climbed down to Rin's hand. Tears began to drip, blurring his eyes. Holding one of Rin's fingers in his forepaws, Haru said, _I'm sorry I can't do anything for you, Matsuoka._

 _If you make it through, I'll no longer ignore you. I'll swim with you in the relay. I'm going to be your friend,_ he promised himself. More tears cascaded down his cheeks, dampening his marmot fur and turning his vision even blurrier.

Haru wiped his teary eyes with the back of his forearm. Then it struck him: his fur felt like skin. He looked down. His body had been restored to its human form. Fur-less body that stood on two legs. The limb wiping off the tears ended in five fingers instead of four claws. He blinked a few more times; his human form remained. And he was buck naked. No wonder it was getting a bit chilly.

More importantly, Haru's other hand, which still held Rin's finger, felt less heat coming off Rin's skin. Could this be because of the temperature difference between human and rodent? He had to be sure.

Haru bent forward to press his forehead against Rin's. It was warmer than his own, but at least it no longer felt like a bowl of soup. _Thank you, Lord Hanzaki Daimyojin._

After snatching a set of Rin's clothes and some coins from Rin's wallet for the bus fare, Haru cast one last look at the sleeping Rin. _See you at school, Matsu—no, Rin._

Next, Haru headed to the door and slipped out of the house while Mrs. Matsuoka was cooking, unaware that he had been there to begin with.

**Part III: Rin & Haru**

"Y-y-you! No fucking way!" Rin shrieked as soon as Haru ended his tale, eyes bewildered and cheeks aflame. He reminded Haru of a lost and helpless wind-tossed sakura petal.

Haru didn't deign Rin with any further explanation until he finished gulping his coffee. "Yeah, I was cursed for taking a dip in the lake sacred to Hanzaki Daimyojin. Your jaw's still dropping, by the way."

Although Rin couldn't believe his ears, logic started to gnaw on his self-assurance from the next second on. He had kept the marmot for only three days before said pet disappeared without a trace. Other than his mother and his sister, no one else knew about the rodent's stay in the Matsuoka family house. By slow degrees, he was forced to accept reality. Hundreds of questions buzzed in his mind, but he was unsure with which one to start. Eventually, he settled with "Why did you trespass on that sacred lake?"

"At first, I didn't know; but then, even after a tadpole who claimed to be the god's servant informed me, I chose not to buy it."

Rin pinched the bridge of his nose. "For fuck's sake, why?"

"Would you just blindly believe it if someone who just came out of the blue claimed that the tourist spot you were visiting was actually a private property?" Haru took another sip of coffee.

An exacerbated reply fell from Rin's mouth, "Well, a random person? Certainly not. But a talking tadpole, Haru…"

"Thankfully, the curse wasn't supposed to be permanent, so the spell wore off in a few days," Haru stated matter-of-factly.

"For years, I wondered why I received an anonymous parcel containing my clothes, a few hundred yen, and a sheet of paper bearing a thank you note with a mackerel scribble on the side, and the sender turns out to be you all along?"

Haru shrugged. "I thought I'd fill you in on my favorite food."

"How was I supposed to guess … urgh!" Rin thrust his arms skyward in exasperation."I always wondered why you finally agreed to be in the Iwatobi Elementary School relay team even though you kept turning me down before the Golden Week… You didn't even tell me _anything_ all these years!"

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm still young and innocent," Haru replied in his usual poker face.

His index finger pointing accusingly at Haru, Rin hollered another shrill cry, "And … and … to think that I told you everything about me, including how much I idolized you!"

Standing up, Haru cast off his apron in one sweeping motion. Next, he pulled their small dining table toward him, only to place himself in the newly-created space between Rin's chair and the table, where his physique loomed over the redhead's seated figure. Only then did he deliver his reply, his breath gusting against his boyfriend's gaping mouth and a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, "Are you sure the term 'idolizing' suffices to comprise the depths of your feelings for me?"

"Shut it. I didn't think of you as more than a swimmer back then." Rin found no conviction in his voice; he might as well claim that the planets were cubical.

"What about now?" Haru's voice sounded level, undeterred as he chose not to point out how many things about him _outside_ of his swimming ability the twelve-year-old Rin had blabbered about in just those few days he'd spent with him.

Defeat was inevitable; regardless of how much denial words could craft, Rin wholeheartedly loved Haru in his entirety. Nor did he have the luxury to gather his words before his boyfriend's figure perched upon his lap and wrapped those impertinently delectable legs around the back of the chair. Haru ensconced himself in deliberate movements so that Rin's bathrobe was parted, exposing his denuded body. The fallen towel that had formerly encircled Haru's waist now pooled on the floor.

Haru leaned forward and rested his forehead against Rin's even though the chair groaned under their combined weight. He gave his boyfriend enough time to push him away, but since Rin didn't, the sly devil seized the opportunity to grab the larger man's shoulders and steal his breath in one irresistible kiss.

The moment his lover's enticing tongue prodded at the seam of Rin's lips, he felt his soul departing from his body, making him as light as a feather floating in mid-air. Haru's hands continued to roam Rin's musculature, gently caressing the contour of his body, tugging at his hair, and reveling in his reactions.

Slow, deep, and cloyingly sweet, the kiss melted Rin's brain away. Between their kisses and moans, he could no longer distinguish whether it had gone on forever or mere seconds, for Haru had stripped him of the concept of time passing. The hand on his stomach drifted lower and lower, but he didn't even realize Haru's deft fingers had undone the knot of his bathrobe belt until the front part of his body was entirely exposed. Under those nimble fingertips, Rin's veins thrummed with desire beneath his skin.

"Rin," Haru murmured, and Rin felt the reverberation of the monosyllable all the way down the length of his tremulous spine to pool in his stomach and tighten in his balls.

Why must Haru look so lewdly handsome when his facial features were manipulated by total ecstasy and the soft rays of the morning sun from the kitchen window cast a halo around his raven hair?

Rin's self-restraint wobbled the moment his eyes laid upon the conspicuous kiss marks across Haru's torso. He recalled marking the one just above the dip of his lover's collarbone the previous night, when Haru had slipped his thumbs inside the waistband of Rin's briefs and slid the fabric down Rin's legs until the underwear pooled around his ankles. The one at the slope of Haru's left shoulder was imprinted by Rin's teeth when his boyfriend groped his ass. As for the one below Haru's right nipple…

Haru's scent—toiletries immixed with the smoke from their fried bacon and sausages—canceled out Rin's remaining train of thoughts. It wasn't a fragrance that would make the best-selling perfume in the world, but it was an odor he could no longer live without.

Haru swerved long enough only to scoop a generous dollop of butter from the table. His skilled fingers smeared the slick substance over their cocks and rubbed the two shafts together. Due to their intimate position, a few strokes were all it took to coax them back to full hardness.

To Haru, no moment could be more exhilarating than Rin melting to the pads of his fingers. The way his lover's body writhed, shivering but demanding more of his touches, fueled a desire forever unquenchable. Rin's expression looked like he was at the verge of tears, though whether he'd sob if Haru kept exploring his exposed skin or he'd weep if Haru ceased his ministration, Haru couldn't tell.

He had fallen too deep in the abyss of love since he was too young to admit it, he had neither the strength nor the will to climb back. At the cost of his own broken heart, he let Rin go to chase his late father's dream. When that boy returned the next winter, however brief, he was too excited to hold back in their swimming race. The tears of defeat that had streaked from Rin's eyes clawed even now at Haru's heart with the guilt that had kept him away from years of competitive swimming. However, even though the sting of that wound would remain irremediable until the day he died, that didn't mean Haru couldn't endeavor to build Rin's happiness via other ways.

With the tantalizing curve of Haru's neck inviting his thirsty lips, Rin voraciously took what he had been offered. The mixture of kisses and pecks left a trail from Haru's mouth to his collarbone. He slipped his wandering hand downward, and as he nibbled at the defined slope of Haru's jaw, Rin teasingly brushed Haru's nipple. He felt his lover's mandible flex beneath his lips and didn't miss Haru's sharp intake of breath. Dropping his mouth to the junction of Haru's neck, Rin nipped with calculated pressure at the tender skin there to leave a mark. Haru's hips bucked atop Rin's lap, and Rin smirked with that knowledge.

Then Haru recaptured Rin's lips. Their chests collided, and Haru's languorous exploration of his mouth left Rin delirious and yearning to prolong the embrace, his pulses racing wild. A throbbing desire flowed from the kiss down to his groin in an unstoppable torrent and deluged his entire being with a longing he couldn't get enough of. Their erections rubbed against each other's pubes in delicious frictions as their hips met in steady grinds between how desperately they clung and rutted together.

Rin's hands traveled down Haru's bare form, tracing his silhouette, until they were splayed on his lover's rear. Digging into the swell of his partner's buttocks, his fingers kneaded the supple flesh.

"I wasn't aware you'd plan something like this." Rin's voice was husky and breathless, lips working their way toward Haru's mouth once more.

Haru delved in for the kiss, zealous and demanding. " _I_ planned this? You're the one who put the butter dish there."

Rin's teenage self would likely insist in retaliation that he'd prepare butter whenever toast was included in the breakfast menu, and then the two of them would continue arguing until Makoto pacified them, but his present self only groaned into the kiss, hands groping his partner's firm ass with more intent. Haru's tongue wrestled his own with movements as intoxicating as his swimming proficiency.

"Rin, join me in the bathtub later," Haru heaved, his voice dreamy and alluring, as his hands kept up their _wonderful_ job by pumping their erect shafts over and over. His thighs crested him forward.

Judging by Haru's absence of protest, Rin probably promised some sort of approval, but his brain was too far gone to digest whatever his mouth muttered. _Haruism_ was the sole religion he had been devoting himself to since his eyes had first lain upon Haru's swimming form. Even now, he couldn't help but worship the sheen of sweat on Haru's forehead, Haru's ragged breath as he moved in tandem with each snap of Rin's hips, Haru's lips red and swollen from their numerous kisses, and—most of all—the passion that danced in Haru's clear blue eyes, all because of Rin.

Nanase Haruka was the most desirable entity Rin could ever fathom.

Rin's body curved toward Haru's with each forward buck of his partner's hips. Gasping and breathlessly dizzy against the tidal force of Haru's erection pumping against his own, Rin caught the huff of an exhale on his lover's lips, strained around the effort that must be flexing through his body to sustain the demanding rhythm he was working into Rin as he brought them together. His thrusts quickened, meeting the same pace as Rin's accelerated heart rate.

Gazing at the gleaming trail of sweat on Rin's forehead, Haru wondered how many times had he fallen for this very man. They bantered constantly, had their rivalry in and outside the pool, and fought to graver degrees from time to time; and yet, he kept finding himself drawn into Rin as many times as the number of froths in a foamy sea. Now, the burgundy eyes that were more intoxicating that all wines in the world were looking back at him. Rin—infuriatingly fascinating Matsuoka Rin—was his irreplaceable _aqua vitae_. His beloved water of life. If it was with this man, he wanted to swim farther, to soar higher, to reach infinity together.

Rin felt himself flush with instant self-consciousness as he became unavoidably aware of how Haru breathed out hard, so close to his tilted-back head that he sensed the other man's heat against his neck. Rin's chest tightened and his shoulders strained as a moan poured from his throat. Orgasm rippled throughout Rin's being.

Not unlike their swimming races, only a split second interval separated their climaxes. Rin felt Haru's thighs strain over him and Haru's cock pulsing with the relief of his own orgasm. Rin shut his eyes and shuddered an exhale that reached even the deepest marrow of his bones.

It took a while to run down their high. Haru buried his face in the slope of Rin's neck, and Rin took a deep breath while trying not to stir the sitting Haru on his lap.

###

In retrospect, Rin pondered in the bathtub later, after Haru had finished cleaning him up and planted a number of adoring kisses all over his skin, Haru's temporal transformation as a marmot still didn't sit well with him.

"You really are unfair, you know." Rin hunched his body and enveloped himself against the curve of Haru's back, his hands sliding down the long expanse of his beautiful lover's thighs.

Haru leaned his head on Rin's shoulder as he rested between his legs. Relaxed and content, he allowed himself to sag against his boyfriend's firm chest and let out a sigh. He listened to Rin's heartbeat the way he did his favorite tune, loving how his partner's body fitted against his own so perfectly. Haru would never say it aloud, but the feeling of Rin's fingers trailing over him sent shivers of desire through him whereas the flimsiest touch from any other person would send him frowning. "How so?"

"For one, you've been well aware of my feelings since we were teenagers but I couldn't be sure of yours until we're in our twenties." Despite the sulky tone in Rin's grumble, his arms wrapped around tightly Haru's slim frame. He held his lover tenderly yet possessively, gingerly yet greedily, reverently yet desperately.

Haru reveled in that touch. When all of Rin's attention was on him, full body contact full of caresses and kisses, the addiction was too strong to wave off. "Have you ever seen me dating anyone other than you?"

Rin's fingers dragged along Haru's skin and lingered a few seconds too long as though his famished soul starved for it. No matter how many times he had this man in his arms, it could never be enough. Neither of them wanted more sex that day; they simply enjoyed the intimate exploration of each other's body far more than the act of penetration. "Not dating per se, but admittedly I wasn't not the first person you'd confide to when trouble found you."

"I had known Makoto even before entering kindergarten. Then there's also his kindness and selflessness. You … you're my rival—the only person who mustn't see me in a pathetic condition no matter what. Don't you feel the same about me?" Haru explained with the patience of a preschool caregiver to a pouty brat as he reached for Rin's hands and intertwined their fingers once again.

Rin recalled the myriad times he had tried to write letters to Haru, but ended up never sending them during his early teenage years, as well as the countless occasions he had tried to speak to Haru, but lacked the courage to push the call button during his late teens.

"That may be so," Rin bantered, "but the last time I checked, I wasn't the reason for your individual medley relay."

Haru blinked.

"Your uni freshman year," Rin reminded him. "Before and after that, whenever I asked you, you always said you only swam free in competitions."

"Oh. I needed to keep my promise to Ikuya because I quit swimming competitively in Junior High. I wanted to swim with him as friends, just as I did with Asahi, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei. I've always wanted to swim with you…" He met Rin's eyes, and then looked away quickly while murmuring, "…more."

Noticing the blush dusting Haru's cheeks up to the tip of his ears, Rin felt his resolution waver. But no, he mustn't be swayed by something like this. "What was that?"

Haru ducked his head away. "You heard me."

"I didn't," Rin insisted. "Say it again."

"Then guess from the context."

It was not the confession Rin had hoped for, but coming from Haru, this was plenty. Besides, the fingers lingering on his skin were a clearer answer than any words could convey. He clucked his tongue. "Fine, then. There's also the fact that you rarely make any noise when I'm the one who fucks you."

"So?" Haru asked, his countenance placid as a lake, but bemusement clear in his tone.

"That's another example of your unfairness," Rin declared. "When you do the fucking, I … well, I…" His cheeks colored.

"Rin, if you want me to moan, all you need to do is give me a reason to," Haru calmly asserted.

Rin declared, "Challenge accepted. I love you so damn much!"

"Your love can't beat mine," Haru shot back.

"There's no way I'm gonna lose; my love for you is stronger."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

Haru insisted, "I love you even more than most."

"Prove it!"

So, Haru kissed the impertinent mouth that challenged him.

"Big deal," Rin responded, a smirk crooking the corners of his mouth. Despite its brevity, that kiss had already sent his head spinning, but he worked hard to conceal his breathlessness so as not to boost Haru's ego.

As expected, the riled-up Haru kissed him again with greater zeal that fueled Rin with an eagerness to surpass even that.

Their mouth clashed once more. Tongues collided. Passion intermingled. As they reunited in another searing kiss, the flutter inside Rin's stomach only intensified. Haru invaded all his senses. Even though Haru's expression was a living personification of constant impassiveness, the rapid beat of his heart couldn't conceal how much he wanted Rin. They held each other close, hands running over wet skin, each nerve ending singing with electricity until they were contentedly numb.

There were times when Haru's kisses skated over his skin like raindrop pelts—teasing, tingly, leaving Rin with want a crave for more. There were, too, times when Haru's kisses felt like a dam the moment its sluice gate was raised, where Haru deluged Rin with the intensity of his desire. Right now, however, Haru felt like an infinite river that flowed ceaselessly to nourish Rin's soul. The world beyond the bathroom walls didn't exist. Rin became one with bliss, warmth filling his every pore.

Other than the melodies of their mingled breaths, silence pervaded throughout the bathroom as soon as they parted. The two men grew increasingly aware of each other's heartbeat. Rin saw himself reflected in Haru's eyes: thrilled, debauched, and ablaze.

"We're running out of bread. Let's go shopping at the usual place," Haru eventually broke the awkward absence of sounds.

For a quick hit of new-meets-old Tokyo and a spot of grocery shopping, they had been inclined to visit the sloping street that led from this neighborhood on the edge of Shinjuku toward the adjacent district of Iidabashi. During the day, the free-of-high-rises-stores area lent itself to strolling. Remote and off-the-beaten tourist track, it felt like an oasis of calm—a chance to soak up an older part of Tokyo devoid of the masses of tourists that flocked to the city's more central sites.

"Later…" Rin licked the slope of Haru's neck, and then rested his chin against Haru's shoulder, "For now, let's stay like this a little longer."

"Wise decision."

THE END


End file.
